College of Education and Behavioral Sciences News

The Kentucky Mesonet at WKU continues to grow its network of automated stations across the Commonwealth. On Tuesday, the ribbon was cut on a new weather and climate monitoring site in Russell County near the community of Eli, about five miles east of Jamestown.

The station, which includes a 33-foot tower with instrumentation that measures air temperature, relative humidity, wind speed and direction, precipitation, and solar radiation, will help improve weather forecasting and increase lead times for severe weather warnings in the Lake Cumberland region.

The land for the site along KY 1611 was donated by Russell County farmer John Adams.

"These stations provide data in real-time, and are archived as the climate record for Kentucky, " said Dr. Jerry Brotzge, state climatologist and Mesonet Director, who added that over 150 million observations are collected annually by the nearly 80 Mesonet sites across the state. "Data are made available in real-time to the National Weather Service, who in turn ingests data into their operational numerical models, thereby providing much improved weather prediction across all of Kentucky. Mesonet data are also used for issuing weather alerts and warnings."

The weather and climate information is also used by farmers across the state, helping to optimize planting, fertilizing, irrigation, pest control, and harvesting schedules.

"In addition to emergency management and agriculture, Kentucky Mesonet data are also used for aviation, ground, and rail transportation; recreation and tourism; public health; energy; education; and commerce," said Brotzge.

Last year, the Kentucky General Assembly invested $1.75 million into Kentucky Mesonet. The additional funding will allow for all Mesonet sites to soon be fitted with new webcams, with the goal of establishing at least one station in all 120 counties across the Commonwealth.

Attendees at Tuesday's ribbon-cutting included Dr. Jerry Brotzge, state climatologist and Mesonet director; Dr. Timothy C. Caboni, WKU President; John Gordon, meteorologist-in-charge at Louisville's National Weather Service office and Kentucky Mesonet Advisory board chair; Donna McClure and Kristi Dearner Lipps, both representatives for U.S. Senator Mitch McConnell; Sandy Simpson, representative for U.S. Congressman James Comer; Russell County Judge-Executive Randy Marcum; Russell County 3rd District Magistrate Zach Wilson; Russell County Sheriff Dereck Polston; Russell County Chamber of Commerce President Lindsey Gosser; and Tiffany Clark, Gavin Connors, Shane Holinde, and Andrew Quilligan, all of the Kentucky Mesonet.

About the Kentucky Mesonet at WKU: The Kentucky Mesonet at WKU is the Commonwealth’s official source for weather and climate data. The statewide network includes 78 stations in 74 counties. The Mesonet stations collect real-time data on air temperature, relative humidity, barometric pressure, precipitation, solar radiation, wind speed and direction and transmit it to the Kentucky Mesonet Operations Center at the WKU Center for Research and Development every five minutes, 24 hours per day, throughout the year. The data is available online at www.kymesonet.org. Dr. Jerry Brotzge serves as Director of the Kentucky Mesonet at WKU and Kentucky Climate Center. The project was initially funded with a $2.9 million federal grant for the Kentucky Climate Center, part of WKU’s Applied Research and Technology Program. The first station was installed at the WKU Farm in May 2007. In recent years, staff have been working to build a broad base of support across Kentucky to continue development and maintenance of the network. The 2022 biennial budget approved by the General Assembly added $1 million to the Kentucky Mesonet, bringing total state funding to $1,750,000 each year.

Contact: Dr. Jerry Brotzge, (270) 745-4567

-WKU-

Western Kentucky University prides itself on positioning its students, faculty and staff for long term success. As a student-centered, applied research university, WKU helps students expand on classroom learning by integrating education with real-world applications in the communities we serve. Our hilltop campus is located in Bowling Green, Kentucky, which was recently named by Reader’s Digest as one of the nicest towns in America, just an hour’s drive from Nashville, Tennessee.